In this surprisingly vulnerable collection, twenty-eight talented fathers explore the complex, enigmatic bond they have with their daughters. These endearing, often funny and sometimes heartbreaking stories have in common an overpowering sense of responsibility and a depth of affection that is unflinchingly tender. Through their shared experiences, they examine relationships fraught with challenges and struggles, but always filled with love. The gentle strength they bring to this important role in their daughters' lives will speak to families for generations to come.
What I Would Tell Her
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Book Description
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Editorial Reviews
From Publishers Weekly
In this follow-up to Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers Reflect on the Mother-Daughter Bond, editor Richesin presents 28 candid, personal essays that demonstrate why "fathers are arguably the most important men in their daughters' lives." Steering clear of straight sentimentality and saccharine stereotypes, writers including Steve Almond, Rob Spillman, Richard Nash, and Thomas Beller contribute essays that are funny, hopeful, inspiring and sad-often at once. In a funny, vulnerable letter for his pre-teen daughter to read on her 18th birthday, single dad Trey Ellis wonders how she'll feel about his racy memoir Bedtime Stories. Daniel Raeburn's brave, heartbreaking essay, meanwhile, recounts the still-birth of his daughter, who they had already named Irene: "Her name came to me in the night while I was falling asleep, her hands and feet drumming against Rebekah's belly and my palms." Writing with their daughters in mind, each contributor has put obvious care and passion into his piece, turning out anecdotes and insight that will resonate with anyone who has a family.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Review
What I Would Tell Her tells the world about the savagely beautiful bond between fathers and daughters, and without a drop of sap. Spectacularly achieved, and fascinating from the very first page.
Jason Roberts author of A Sense of the World
What an amazing collection. What I Would Tell Her compiles a wide variety of voices, every one of them powerful, entertaining and often surprising in the way only such personal writing can be.
David Liss, author of The Whiskey Rebels
The heart-whomping tenderness in these essays is startling enough to be called news. What I Would Tell Her offers a direct line into the heart and soul of fathers. This book brought me to my knees.
Karen Karbo, author of The Stuff of Life
As father of a daughter, I am so impressed at how effectively this marvelous anthology captures the wonders and complexities of this relationship. What I Would Tell Her is a book all dads and daughters should read.
Ron Rash, author of Serena
In this exquisite collection about what fathers would tell their daughters, dads lay bare their great hearts. So buy it for every dad you know...if there are any left after I have."
Jacquelyn Mitchard, author No Time to Wave Goodbye
Jason Roberts author of A Sense of the World
What an amazing collection. What I Would Tell Her compiles a wide variety of voices, every one of them powerful, entertaining and often surprising in the way only such personal writing can be.
David Liss, author of The Whiskey Rebels
The heart-whomping tenderness in these essays is startling enough to be called news. What I Would Tell Her offers a direct line into the heart and soul of fathers. This book brought me to my knees.
Karen Karbo, author of The Stuff of Life
As father of a daughter, I am so impressed at how effectively this marvelous anthology captures the wonders and complexities of this relationship. What I Would Tell Her is a book all dads and daughters should read.
Ron Rash, author of Serena
In this exquisite collection about what fathers would tell their daughters, dads lay bare their great hearts. So buy it for every dad you know...if there are any left after I have."
Jacquelyn Mitchard, author No Time to Wave Goodbye
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More About the Author
Andrea N. Richesin is the editor of four anthologies, Crush: 26 Real-life Tales of First Love; What I Would Tell Her: 28 Devoted Dads on Bringing Up, Holding On To, and Letting Go of Their Daughters; Because I Love Her: 34 Women Writers Reflect on the Mother-Daughter Bond and The May Queen: Women on Life, Love, Work and Pulling It All Together In Your 30s. Her anthologies have been excerpted and praised in The New York Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, The Boston Globe, Redbook, Parenting, Cosmopolitan, Bust, Good Housekeeping, and Babble. Visit her online at www.NickiRichesin.com.
Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
5 of 5 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
As a daddy's girl, I really thought I was going to love this book and smile through all the stories. However, this book was rather boring to me. Some of the stories were just flat out depressing (ex. the miscarriage story about the father who didn't want to say he never had a daughter) or corny (ex. the guy who cries about EVERYTHING). Normally if I can't get into a book, I'll stop and not review it, but since this was an Amazon Vine product I kept trying to force myself to like it. And it just never happened. Of course the fathers talked about what it was like to have daughters, but I would close the book and not remember anything positive about the stories. Section after section, I was growing more and more uninterested. I read half the book and finally I donated it to someone else who may enjoy it more than I would. Maybe it got better in the latter half, but if it takes more than 150+ pages to get into a book, it's probably not the book for you (or me).
I think if there were more comedic moments or even some more serious situations actually about the daughters and not the fathers on soapboxes, I could've gotten into it. But it was like watching a Lifetime movie for men. There was never a moment when I went, "Wow! Now that was something to think about." I just spent a lot of time shrugging.
I think if there were more comedic moments or even some more serious situations actually about the daughters and not the fathers on soapboxes, I could've gotten into it. But it was like watching a Lifetime movie for men. There was never a moment when I went, "Wow! Now that was something to think about." I just spent a lot of time shrugging.
3 of 3 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
As a newly minted dad with a cherished daughter, I was really looking forward to reading "What I Would Tell Her". I envisioned pithy, salient short stories highlighting the wonderful nuances of the unique relationship between each father and daughter. I even dared hope that wiser, more sagacious fathers full of worldly knowledge would provide me with insights into strengthening my own burgeoning relationship with my little ball of kicking, bright-eyed wonder.
Perhaps that was my downfall. Contrary to my expectations, "What I would Tell Her" is not really a collection of profound parenting revelations, heartwarming moments between father and daughter, or even really a compliation in service of a grander theme. To be entirely honest, I found it to be a tedious, largely redundant collection of tales by prickly, self-absorbed men confounded by the odd female creature dropped into their midsts, and dragged kicking and screaming towards unknown truths that never quite materialize in prose. The narrators by and large come across as singularly unsympathetic people, and the daughters seem to range from burdens to obstacles to challenges. In fact, in many stories, the daughter herself recedes into the background of the narrative in a deeply disquieting manner while the father blathers on about his own accomplishments, pontificates about his political beliefs, or generally runs on about the centrality of his own needs.
I think these flaws are grounded in the manner in which this collection was created. It appears that the selection of the short stories was made based primarily on whether the submitting writers were established authors, rather than starting with a focus on wise, good fathers and then finding some that can write.... Read more ›
Perhaps that was my downfall. Contrary to my expectations, "What I would Tell Her" is not really a collection of profound parenting revelations, heartwarming moments between father and daughter, or even really a compliation in service of a grander theme. To be entirely honest, I found it to be a tedious, largely redundant collection of tales by prickly, self-absorbed men confounded by the odd female creature dropped into their midsts, and dragged kicking and screaming towards unknown truths that never quite materialize in prose. The narrators by and large come across as singularly unsympathetic people, and the daughters seem to range from burdens to obstacles to challenges. In fact, in many stories, the daughter herself recedes into the background of the narrative in a deeply disquieting manner while the father blathers on about his own accomplishments, pontificates about his political beliefs, or generally runs on about the centrality of his own needs.
I think these flaws are grounded in the manner in which this collection was created. It appears that the selection of the short stories was made based primarily on whether the submitting writers were established authors, rather than starting with a focus on wise, good fathers and then finding some that can write.... Read more ›
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
I rarely read commissioned anthologies, the genre was ruined for me by reading Donald Westlake's wonderful Likely Story. I can feel the authors straining to come up with something that doesn't sound commissioned, and also doesn't sound like every other story in the book. However good the result, it always feels like a relief to open a book written by someone who chose the topic.
I got this book because I like many of the writers and the topic seemed broad enough to minimize the paid-per-word feeling. I also happen to be the father of a young girl. I have found the experience to be the usual combination of sharp frustration that never lasts and deep joy that does. It helps that I have the greatest daughter in the world, of course. But people keep telling me, with undisguised glee, that I have terrible surprises awaiting me. So my other reason for reading this was in case it could provide any insight into that universal prophecy.
In terms of literary merit, I'd give this book four stars. Of the authors I know, none turned in their best work, but all did solid jobs or better. The authors I didn't know were just as good, with three exceptions. So this is a fine collection of short essays, above average of the type. On the other hand, if you're thinking of a gift for a new Dad, or a way to cheer up someone with relationship problem, this is a problematic choice. These stories have real meat, they are stimulating and thought-provoking, not comforting.
The awkwardness of the commissioning is a mild drawback. Most authors manage to sound natural, as if they had a qualifying story lying around unpublished anyway.... Read more ›
I got this book because I like many of the writers and the topic seemed broad enough to minimize the paid-per-word feeling. I also happen to be the father of a young girl. I have found the experience to be the usual combination of sharp frustration that never lasts and deep joy that does. It helps that I have the greatest daughter in the world, of course. But people keep telling me, with undisguised glee, that I have terrible surprises awaiting me. So my other reason for reading this was in case it could provide any insight into that universal prophecy.
In terms of literary merit, I'd give this book four stars. Of the authors I know, none turned in their best work, but all did solid jobs or better. The authors I didn't know were just as good, with three exceptions. So this is a fine collection of short essays, above average of the type. On the other hand, if you're thinking of a gift for a new Dad, or a way to cheer up someone with relationship problem, this is a problematic choice. These stories have real meat, they are stimulating and thought-provoking, not comforting.
The awkwardness of the commissioning is a mild drawback. Most authors manage to sound natural, as if they had a qualifying story lying around unpublished anyway.... Read more ›
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
This book gives hope that GOOD DADS exist and when they do they have a lot of good advice for parents raising their daughters today. I would recommend this book as a great Father's Day gift to an already good dad and also it is a great gift for mom's as well. It will leave you, loving you daughter even more.
Most Recent Customer Reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some good stories; some not-so-good stories
I get this book for two reasons: I'm the Dad to two little girls; and one of the contributors, Robert Dugoni, is an acquaintance of mine. Read more
Published 13 months ago by David Montgomery
5.0 out of 5 stars
Moving, Beautiful
Thomas Beller's essay is the reason I bought this book. I read it in the bookstore and wanted to own it, a story of fathers and daughters but also fathers and sons, husbands and... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Karol Nielsen
5.0 out of 5 stars
Good gift for dads
I got this for my husband, who was a first-time dad at almost 40. It's been a joy watching him be a father, and he's found a new tenderness in caring for our daughter. Read more
Published on March 19, 2011 by Suzanne MN Fisher
4.0 out of 5 stars
If the topic moves you, some interesting stories - but more...
If the topic and stories sound interesting to you, get this book. The reasonable price of "What I Would Tell Her," along with the fact that this is short stories or essays, make... Read more
Published on March 13, 2011 by Snap, Crackle and Pop
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not for the faint of heart
It would be unfair of me to not warn you about this book. What I Would Tell Her: 28 Devoted Dads on Bringing Up, Holding On To and Letting Go of Their Daughters, edited by Andrea... Read more
Published on March 8, 2011 by Rita Arens
4.0 out of 5 stars
Touching tales of fatherhood
* First, I want to note that I have received this book to review through the Amazon Vine program. Second, I would like to note that I am posting my review without having viewed ANY... Read more
Published on December 13, 2010 by Michael D. Adams
3.0 out of 5 stars
Uneven Writing With A Few Gems
You'll have to wade through some mediocre chapters to find the true gems here. As could be expected from a series of essays by a variety of writers, the quality of the writing is... Read more
Published on November 23, 2010 by Paige Turner
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dad's and their daughters
I can only find one word that makes sense to describe the entire book: Touching. To read of the love, the trials, the ups and the downs, I was left feeling like I am one lucky guy... Read more
Published on November 22, 2010 by Mike Donovan
1.0 out of 5 stars
Too personal
Each of these stories was very personal and would not relate to any girl/woman except for the one that the father wrote about. Read more
Published on November 18, 2010 by Donna Capshaw
3.0 out of 5 stars
Some Great Stories and Some Curious Choices
As the father of (as of the date of this review) a four year old daughter, I'm always on the lookout for wisdom that I can glean from other fathers with daughters. Read more
Published on November 8, 2010 by Michael Lima
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